Tom, my oldest son, can listen to music and discern the different musical instruments. The violin and piano always sing to me, but everything else, with an occasional exception, just blend together. I suppose if you engaged one instrument at a time you could learn to discern the different instruments when they play together. In a busy, noisy day who doesn't hear a coin drop?
How many of us will be still long enough to try and identify the various sounds that embrace us? The hum of the computer, the heater coming on and going off, the ice maker in the refrigerator, the school bus going by are only introductions. It isn't difficult, but can you be still long enough to hear your breathing? Can you be still long enough to hear your heart beat? I've done this a couple of times at Ken and Hana's house, where even the birds are loud, but where we live the sounds of highway 99 are just too noisy for me.
I know there are folks who can do this with all of their senses. Will I live long enough to experience the full bounty each day offers? I am trying to be more aware. I want to push back on the anxieties and fears that try to shape and conform me to someone or something I am not. Are artists the only ones who can rise above the mundane, experience and feel what most of us never notice?
Is that the way it is with people and relationships? Do we really know the people we think we know? Who are they on the other side of our projections, prejudices, and pride? Do we only draw close to those who somehow complement our own agendas? Do we spend so much time multitasking, cramming every bit of life into each minute that we never live at all? Do you find it ironical that so many people cannot remember their daily busyness, yet their nights are spent slouching on the couch watching the same news over and over, the same commercials over and over and programming that is now called 'Reality Television'?
One of my sons got me a Starbucks card for my birthday. Yesterday, while Lily searched for bargains down the Safeway aisles I went and got a mocha. It turned out to be like ice cream instead of hot, but it didn't matter because I got to know a little about Alex. She used to be a courtesy clerk, but she got promoted to Starbucks and she loves it. After our brief conversation she wished me a good day. Alex made a good day better.
Baby steps I know, but I want to grow into someone whose world continually grows through new people, sounds, sights, thoughts, reflections on God ... The ordinary is not ordinary at all to those who can see and hear and feel. I want to learn to transcend what I think is ordinary and experience the wonder that God has provided for us all ... despite the busyness that masquerades as reality.
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